Following the review and acceptance of the Guilty Plea Agreement in the case v. Mićo Jovičić, the Trial Panel of the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed down on 16 November 2016 the Verdict under which the Accused Mićo Jovičić is found guilty of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians in violation of Article 142(1) as read with Article 22 of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (CC of SFRY) and sentenced to five (5) years in prison.

The Accused Mićo Jovičić is found guilty because during the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between June 1992 and December 1995, in the territory of municipalities of Rudo and Višegrad, between the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as members of the Army of Republika Srpska namely, L.D. as a commander of the 2nd Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade – Višegrad (2.PLPB-Višegrad), B.I. as a commander of the Intervention company within the said Brigade, and O.P., N.P., D.Š., O.K., P.I., R.R., V.R. and Mićo Jovičić, as members of the Intervention company or members of the 1st Company, the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade Višegrad, acted in violation of the rules of international humanitarian law violating Article 3(1) a) of the Geneva Convention relative to Protection of Civilian Persons at time of War dated 12 August 1949.

Pursuant to Article 188(4) the Accused is relieved of the duty to reimburse the costs of the criminal proceedings.

The Court also rendered the Decision extending the prohibiting measures: travel ban with the seizure of travel documents and prohibition to use the identity card to cross the state border. The said measures shall be in place no later than the Accused is committed to serve the sentence and if he violates the measures he may be ordered into custody.

25.2.2016 – An exhumation was carried out on the foundations of Meho Aljic’s house in Bikavac where on 27.6.1992 one of the worst war crimes was committed during the genocide 1992-95. At least 70 women and children were burnt alive by Bosnian Serb soldiers.

On 25.2.2016, the Missing Persons Institute conducted an exhumation on this location and found one piece of human bone. There were several exhumations conducted on this location but this was the first time a human bone was discovered.

The crime scene was destroyed by the local authorities during or after the war. The house was bulldozed and the site was turned into a garbage dump.

DNA analysis will be conducted on the discovered bone in order to try and establish an identity of a victim.

Former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman Oliver Krsmanovic was sentenced to 18 years in prison for crimes against humanity including the killings and forced disappearances of Bosniaks in Visegrad in 1992.

Justice Report – BIRN
The state court in Sarajevo on Monday found Krsmanovic guilty on eight counts for taking part in the killings and forced disappearances of Bosniak civilians, as well as other inhumane acts in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad during wartime.

The court ruled that Krsmanovic took part in the hijacking and killing of 16 Bosniak civilians travelling from Sjeverin in Serbia on October 22, 1992, and in the killings of eight Bosniak men at the Varda factory in Visegrad earlier that year.

Krsmanovic was also convicted of being responsible for the forced disappearance of a number of civilians, the torture of one Bosniak in Visegrad and beating up a prisoner in the Rasadnik detention camp in 1995.

The court however cleared him of taking part in rapes and torture.

It also said that the prosecution failed to prove that Krsmanovic took part in the burning alive of 80 Bosniak civilians in Bikavac in June 1992.

“The role of the defendant [in the Bikavac killings] was unclear to the chamber,” said presiding judge Darko Samardzic.

The court further acquitted Krsmanovic of two incidents of rape and sexual abuse at the Vilina Vlas Hotel in Visegrad because the witnesses were unsure whether the defendant was the person who assaulted them.

“We believe that the punishment fits the crime and the role of the defendant,” said Samardzic.

“The chamber finds no mitigating circumstances. The fact that the defendant is a family man has no bearing on the crimes. He offered no remorse, but continued to commit crimes,” the judge added.

This verdict can be appealed, while the two-and-a-half years that Krsmanovic spent in custody from 2011 to 2013 will count toward his sentence.